Books

Remembering Big Daddy

CoverEvents are starting up for Bill Boyarsky's major political history from University of California Press, Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics. Unruh, of course, was the prototypical Speaker of the state Assembly, the longtime state treasurer, and a pol who famously got things done. Tonight the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC is throwing a book signing and panel discussion with a pretty decent lineup: current Treasurer Bill Lockyer, former Speaker Robert M. Hertzberg, State Librarian Emeritus Kevin Starr and Constance Rice of The Advancement Project. The reception kicks off at 6:30 pm in the Davidson Conference Center, the panel at 7.

Busy man: Boyarsky, meanwhile, has a new post up at his LA Observed blog discussing Mayor Villaraigosa's difficult position over the LAPD's plan to map Muslim neighborhoods. In a piece at Robert Scheer's Truthdig, we also learn that Bill won't be voting for anyone named Rudy for president:

The limitations of the old-fashioned mainstream media prevent it from portraying the true horror of what a Giuliani administration would mean to the United States and the rest of the world.

Boyarsky, the former city editor, columnist, national political writer and City Hall bureau chief at the L.A. Times, is also the author of Ronald Reagan, His Life and Rise to the Presidency, Los Angeles: City of Dreams, Backroom Politics: How Your Local Politicians Work, Why Your Government Doesn't, and What You Can Do About It (with Nancy Boyarsky), and The Rise of Ronald Reagan.

Recently: Boyarsky on Larry Mantle (audio)


More by Kevin Roderick:
Standing up to Harvey Weinstein
The Media
LA Times gets a top editor with nothing but questions
LA Observed Notes: Harvey Weinstein stripped bare
LA Observed Notes: Photos of the homeless, photos that found homes
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LA Observed Notes: Bookstore stays open, NPR pact
Al Franken in Los Angeles many times over
His British invasion - and ours
Press freedom under Trump and the Festival of Books
Amy Dawes, 56, journalist and author
Richard Schickel, 84, film critic, director and author
The Lost Journalism of Ring Lardner: An Interview with Ron Rapoport


 

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